Infiltration
by SarahKathryn
Summary: The OPS has been compromised. One is missing, and two more are down. Team fic but will probably focus a bit on Eric and Nell.
1. Chapter 1

It was getting late, not that the two young techs would notice. Hetty Lange sighed. A good work ethic was a good thing for them to have but it was after ten o'clock at night and even Callen had gone home. The building was vacant except for the two techs and herself.

The doors leading into the computer lab were closed. Hetty gave another sigh. If Mr Beale and Miss Jones wouldn't respond to her repeated messages over the intercom, she'd just have to go up there herself.

Hetty marched out of her office and strode toward the stairs. When she reached them, she called out, "Mr Beale? Miss Jones? I'm coming up there if you don't come down this instant." No answer came from behind the closed door, no response to show they heard her, neither of them came out apologizing for keeping her so late.

"Children." she muttered. "They're just like unruly children needing to be told when to go to bed." She stomped upstairs as much as a four foot seven woman wearing heels and a tailored suit can stomp.

When she reached the second floor of the building, it was instanteous. The overwhelming feel of danger swept over Hetty like it hadn't in thirty years. Automatically, relexes took over and she prepared to fight, her carefully concealed gun at the ready. Cautiously, she crept down the hall toward the computer lab, the feeling of dread growing with every step. Slowly, she tapped the numeric keypad with its four digit code, unsure what she'd find beyond. The metal door began to creak open.

"It's past nine." Callen commented. "Where's Hetty?" He gestured to her still dark untouched office.

"Sick day." Sam offered.

"That woman doesn't know how to be sick."

"Probably the only thing she doesn't know," Deeks added.

"She's gonna walk in here and box your ears." Kensi told him.

Callen and Sam nodded in unison. "She'll make you her slave for the day."

"Maybe make you wear a toga." Callen declared, solemnly.

"She doesn't have a toga in there," Deeks started to answer, then stopped. "Does she?"

"Who knows? Hetty's well known for her closet." Sam shrugged.

"Seriously, guys, it's a quarter to ten. Where could she be?" Kensi asked.

"MTAC?" Deeks suggested.

"No, we'd know about it."

"Unless it's beyond our clearance," Called said, slowly. "Eric or Nell would know something about it though, they're the ones who set up the calls."

Kensi shook her head. "Haven't seen them either."

"Now, that's strange." Sam agreed.

"Maybe they've got a little something something going on?" Deeks suggested.

The other three all turned and looked at him.

"Nah."

"She's too young for him."

"They hate each other."

Deeks just nodded. "Yeah, right. 1, she isn't too young for him. Nell is what, twenty three? Eric's only a bit older then that. 2, they don't hate each other, they're just competitive."

"You've spent some time thinking about this." Sam said.

"What, you wanted to go out with Nell?" Callen threw at him as they climbed the stairs.

"She really is too young for you." Kensi said.

"I'm thirty three!" He protested.

"Oh, so he admits it!" she exclaimed.

"No, hey, wait, that's not what I said! Sure, she's nice and all but," Deeks protested again, to no prevail.

"Don't worry. Nell won't mind an older man," Callen ribbed some more.

"Seriously, really, I don't like her like that. Isn't she just out of college or something?"

"Has to be at least twenty one to be working at NCIS."

"Guys." Kensi stopped in front of the computer lab. "The door is open."

"So?"

"It's weirdly open, see?" She pointed. The door was, indeed, weirdly open, only a few inches from the doorframe, something the heavy metal door couldn't do without something else helping it.

"Yeah, it is." Sam commented. "Eric, Nell, you in there?" he called.

No answer came at first, then a noise that sounded like a chair rolling across the tile floor came out of the room.

"Eric, Nell?" Sam called again. This time a thumping sound occured. "I'm going to open the door all the way, okay?" He turned to the other three."Get ready on the count of three." They nodded. "One, two, three." He pushed the heavy door all the way open, unprepared for the scene that greeted them.

Okay, this is my first fanfic in a while. The last one didn't get many reviews or anything, so before I go on, I'd really like to know what people think. Is it worth continuing?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer- All I own is the first season on DVD (that I won, from . So they already know I have it LOL)

A/N- I am sooo sorry I didn't get this up sooner - I have been very sick and not able to update. On the bright side, y'all are getting a longer chapter :) Thanks so much for the lovely comments, 11 just on one chapter! Okay, on to the story you've been waiting for:

It was utter chaos behind the door. Computer screens were smashed and hanging at crazy angles from their cords. Chairs were overturned. Keyboards had been yanked from their places, cords shredded beyond repair. In the middle of the mess lay the two techs, bound and gagged but awake, their eyes bright and wide above the gags.

It took only a few seconds for the team to get over their shock and jump into action. Callen went over to the phone on the wall. "This is Agent Callen, calling a Code White. I repeat, this is Agent Callen, calling a Code White."

Sam hurried over to Eric while Kensi went for Nell. "Hey, buddy." Gently, Sam untied the strips of cording from Eric's wrists and ankles, then pulled the cloth gag from his mouth. Eric coughed and the sudden movement reopened the gash on his head, causing blood to flow down his face. "Gonna be all right now, okay?" Sam pressed his palm against the cut. "When that med team gets here, they'll fix you up good as new." Eric just nodded and leaned back against the overturned chair next to him.

Kensi knelt next to Nell and pulled off her bindings and gags. "Are you all right? Can you tell us what happened?"

"Hurts." Nell said, wincing.

"I know. Med team's on the way. Hang in there, all right?" Kensi patted Nell's shoulder.

Deeks stood next to Callen. "Um, what's a Code White?" he asked.

"Basically, no one in, no one out." Callen replied. "Only way this could've happened was if someone was working from the inside."

"Oh."

Sam joined them. "Eric's got a head wound, not too deep, might need stitches. Bleeding pretty good but then, head wounds always do. I've stopped it for now but the med team will want to look at it at least."

"Nell has a broken wrist. It'll need set, otherwise, she is fine. No cuts or gashes or anything I can see." Kensi came up to the men.

"Guys, there is no med team coming. No one in, no one out, unless they're literally dying without medical care." Callen spoke. "Sam, you can set Nell's wrist. I'll go find Hetty's first aid kit, I'm sure there is some bandages for Eric and maybe an Ace bandage and sling,too."

Suddenly, they all looked at each other. "Where's Hetty?" Kensi asked.

"Eric, Nell, when did all this happen?" Deeks turned toward the two on the floor.

Eric opened his eyes. "Last night, around 10:30, 11:00."

"Was Hetty here?"

"Yes. She kept calling us over the intercom." Nell spoke up.

"Did she ever come in here?"

"She said she was coming." Eric answered. "That's when all hell broke loose." He gestured to the broken screens and chairs.

"Hetty's missing." Sam said, stunned.

"If you say so." Eric shut his eyes again, not quite comprehending what had just been said.

They all stood and looked at each other for a minute, not sure exactly what should be done in such a situation.

"All right." Callen broke the silence. "Here's what we're going to do. First, we get Eric and Nell downstairs, there's nothing that can be done in here right now, especially since they're the only ones who know how these toys work and how to fix them so they work. Then, Sam, I want you to call Vance, explain what happened."

"But we don't know what happened yet." Deeks broke in.

"We will, after we patch up these two." Callen gestured toward the techs. "They're not in good enough shape to answer questions until then."

"All righty." Deeks shrugged in agreement. "Hey, Eric, buddy, you think you can walk downstairs?"

"C'mon, we'll help you." Callen and Deeks went over to him, to help him up and down the stairs.

Sam used one of the bindings to form a makeshift sling so he and Kensi could help Nell. "Gonna be all right, just give us a few minutes." he told her, tying the cloth binding under her hair.

"Hey, throw me another one of those cloths, will ya? Eric's soaked through this one." Callen requested.

Kensi tossed him one, which he caught perfectly. "Nice shot." he tried to give her a small smile.

"Good catch."

It took far longer then normal but between the four agents they managed to get down the stairs without causing further injury to either of the injured. They settled Eric and Nell on the L shaped couch behind the desks.

"Does anyone know where the first aid kit is?" Deeks asked.

"Check the kitchen, should be in the cabinet below the coffee maker." Sam answered.

"Okay." Deeks hurried off to look.

"You need anything else?" Callen asked Sam. "You've got the harder job, all Eric needs is a big bandage, maybe some of the butterfly bandages underneath."

"Something stiff. Lacking that, a better sling."

"First one might be kind of difficult, second one, we can probably do."

Deeks came running back with the first aid kit. "Got it!"

"Great." Callen took it from him. "You know anything about cleaning wounds or setting bones?"

"Um, not really." Deeks squinted at Callen. "Not really required in the LAPD."

"You'll learn." Callen emptied the kit on the desk, picking through it, he chose bandages, cleanser and gauze for Eric and the Ace bandages he threw to Sam, who looked none too thrilled to be given the job. "Okay. Here we go."

Eric looked up at Callen from his place on the couch. "This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"

"Probably no more so then getting hit over the head in the first place."

Eric groaned, that had not exactly been a comforting answer.

A few swipes of the cleanser and Callen could see the gash wasn't as bad as first thought. He carefully placed two butterfly bandages to hold the edges together and placed a big bandage over them to hold it all.

"You're done. And ready for questioning, I hope." he told the injured man. "Deeks, you're with me and Eric. Kensi, help out Sam."

She didn't look happy with him but moved over to where Sam was rolling the Ace bandage in preparation. "I guess I'm your nurse."

"Good. I'm gonna need someone to hold Nell because this is gonna hurt." he told her quietly.

Kensi nodded and sat next to Nell on the couch.

"Hey, Nell." Sam knelt in front of her. "I've got some ibuprofen for you, but it's not going to help too much unfortunely. I want you to take it anyway so I can fix up your wrist, okay?"

Nell nodded and took the red capsules. "Is Eric all right?"

"Sure is, Callen's finishing cleaning him up right now."

"Okay."

"This is going to hurt. Sorry about that." Carefully, Sam probed Nell's swollen wrist, then quickly pulled it back in place, causing her to cry out. "Almost done, Kensi, the bandage, please." With skill, he twirled it around her wrist."Now, I'm all done."

"Thanks, I think."

"Welcome, stay still for a while til we find you a better sling." Sam pulled himself up and went to talk to Callen, who'd been watching the whole thing.

"She all right?" Callen asked.

"Yeah. Will be anyway. Eric?"

"Him,too."

"He tell you anything?"

"We thought we'd wait for you." Deeks broke in.

"Hey, Eric, can you tell us anything?" Kensi asked, tired of the guys playing who's gonna ask the questions. "What about you, Nell?"

Eric had shut his eyes again and blinked them open, a bit intimidated by being surrounded by four armed agents, even if they were his friends. Finally, he spoke. "It was around ten. We were finishing up our reports for the day. I heard the door open, thought it was Hetty, coming to yell at us for being here so late."

"She'd already called us over the intercom a couple times." Nell joined in.

"Then something hit me over the head. I never saw anyone, sorry."

"He hit the floor and I tried to turn around but someone twisted my wrist and wouldn't let me. Pushed me back into my desk."

"Did they say anything?" Sam asked.

"I don't think so. I don't remember if they did." Nell answered, slowly, trying to remember.

"Neither of you saw anyone?" Deeks wanted to know.

"No." Eric answered and Nell shook her head.

"What about the security cameras?" Kensi came up with another question.

"The cameras themselves may not be ruined but the computer feeds are toast." Eric told her

"You know this how?" Callen asked.

"We've been sitting up there, with nothing to do _except_ look at the computers. They're smashed. Maybe we can get something off the hard drives but I'm not sure." Eric explained. "Depends if they knew what they were doing or not."

"You guys think you'd be up to going back to the computer lab, see what you can salvage? We really need the surveillance footage if it's still there." Sam asked.

Eric and Nell looked at each other and nodded. The pain was still evident in their eyes but they were willing to put it aside to find Hetty and the intruders that had managed to infiltrate NCIS.

A/N 2 - Yes, SEALs really can receive medical training, I looked it up. It's an optional thing but let's just say Sam went for it. And I made up Code White - I've no clue if it actually exists. I hope you enjoy this second chapter and please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer- All I own is the first season on DVD (that I won, from . So they already know I have it LOL)

A/N- I had intended to have this up by last Saturday but I just couldn't seem to write it the way I wanted. It took me three tries to get it anywhere near what I had in mind. Anyhow, it is!

"Um, guys, we've got good news and bad news." Eric looked up from the computer he and Nell had managed to put together from the mess in the room,

"Okay, let's hear it." Sam said.

"Which do you want first?" Nell asked him.

"Might as well get it over with. Give us the bad news first." Callen called from the other side of the room, where he was looking at a computer part as if he could will it to work properly again.

"Well, the security cameras are still working." Eric began.

"That's good, isn't it?" Deeks joined in.

"It would be, except the cameras connected to the outside and this room aren't working."

"So fix it." Callen demanded.

"Can't do that." Nell explained. "For the most part," she waved her good hand around the mess, "this is all superficial. They only wanted it to look like everything had been destroyed."

"Except the guy obviously knew exactly which computers do what." Eric broke in.

"Yeah, because the computer that controls those particular cameras is the only one missing it's hard drive."

"No chance of just replacing it, is there?" Kensi asked, hopefully.

Eric and Nell looked at each other and shook their heads.

"That's about the only part we can't just replace." Nell answered, gloomily.

Everyone was quiet a few minutes. Deeks broke the silence, "You said there was good news, right?" he asked.

"Well, yeah." Nell slowly answered.

Eric stood up carefully, his head injury making movement a bit difficult and pointed across the room at the wall screen. He gripped his chairback tightly and shut his eyes.

Nell stepped closer to him and whispered, "I'll show them." Then she walked to the wall screen.

Using her good hand, she opened a few files, bringing up photos of a familiar place.

"That's here. The hallways, anyway." Kensi exclaimed.

"Yes. And here, here, and here." Nell tapped the screen three times, enlarging each photo, "You see that there?"

Everyone leaned in for a closer look. "Doesn't look like anything to me." Callen commented.

"Well, it is a shadow." Nell sounded proud of herself.

"How many of those pills did I give you?" Sam asked her, wondering why she'd be so happy over a shadow that was barely visible.

She gave him a glance and turned back to the screen. "See, look carefully. Here and here." She tapped the photos again so they were even bigger.

"Hey, it's the shadow of a person." Deeks exclaimed, surprised.

"Exactly." Eric said from behind them. "We don't have a picture of the guy yet but we're working on it."

"Somehow, this is sounding more and more like an inside job. Knew exactly which computer to destroy, knew how to avoid the cameras." Callen was thinking out loud.

"Also, didn't kill us!" Eric pointed out. "Most bad guys don't leave witnesses."

"Neither of you remember much." Kensi drily pointed out.

"We're bad witnesses." Nell nodded.

Any other time, they might have found the comment funny but now, with Hetty missing and OPS compromised, it didn't seem all that funny.

"Okay. Eric, Nell, anything else missing, moved out of place, anything unusual?" Sam asked, hoping for a better lead then shadows.

"Time for the good news." Eric sounded a bit more like his usual uninjured self as he slowly turned back to the desktop computer, ignoring Sam's comments since the entire computer lab was trashed and everything had been moved around, it'd just be redundant to answer.

"Great, let's hear it." Callen exclaimed.

"We may have found where Hetty was taken." It was Eric's turn to announce proudly.

The room exploded with everyone talking at once. It took a few moments for everyone to quiet down so that he could explain.

"Why didn't you tell us this first?" Deeks demanded.

"Because she isn't there now."

"How do you know?" Callen asked.

"Not every camera was attached to that hard drive."

"Just one camera was left in the parking lot." Nell jumped in.

"We're rather certain she's either hidden in the parking lot or nearby."

"Again, you didn't tell us this first because?"

"What happened to no one in, no one out?"

Sam, Callen, Kensi and Deeks exchanged a look. That was one angle they hadn't really thought about.

"Okay, I've got contacts in the LAPD." Deeks suggested. "They'd go after her for us."

"No, we need to keep this in house." Callen disagreed.

"Wouldn't be a good idea to announce NCIS has lost an important agent." Sam pointed out.

"Besides, that we're pretty sure this is an inside job and Hetty is still here." Nell spoke up.

"Why do you think that?" Kensi wanted to know.

"She never appears on camera. Not ours, not the street cams across the road, no where. No shadows to suggest she's there either."

"Couldn't they just be hiding her from the cameras?" Deeks threw out.

"Well, we thought of that." Eric clicked the mouse and new images appeared on the wall screen.

"See, no one ever leaves NCIS in a car or with a big enough package. In fact, no one leaves at all during the hours we know this went down." Nell enlarged the images so the others could see them better.

"So, we came to the conclusion that she must still be here, somewhere." Eric added.

"Okay. I don't want this information getting downstairs. It doesn't leave the room, got it? Don't tell anyone else." Callen said, thinking about their limited options.

"Because someone down there is the bad guy." Sam finished for Callen.

"How are we going to flush him, or her, out?" Kensi asked.

"It was a man." Nell told her.

"Ditto." Eric agreed.

"How do you know that when you never saw him and were blindfolded half the night?"

"The hands. When he tied me up, they just weren't woman's hands." Nell explained. "Not to mention, how many girls do you know that can break bones?"

"Counting myself? Not many." Kensi admitted.

"Well, I was unconscious." Eric shrugged. "But right before I saw stars, I could smell men's cologne. Unless Nell's got new taste in perfume, it was definitely a man."

"Funny." she smirked at him, and turned back to the wall screen. "However, if you'll look at the shadow we first pulled up, it is quite clearly the silhouette of a man." She pulled the photo from the corner of the screen to show the team. "Just one man's shadow, which would explain why Eric was knocked out first."

"Easier to get the bigger target out of the way first." Sam nodded.

"Well, at least we know we're looking for a male." Deeks remarked.

"Narrows the pool considerably." Kensi rolled her eyes. "Nearly every agent downstairs is male."

"True." Callen agreed, not wanting to start in with it. "We'll just have to split them between the four of us for questioning."

"Include the women,too. You never know." Sam added.

"Okay. Here's what we're going to do. Eric, Nell, you two do whatever it is you two do to enhance those photos. Maybe we'll get lucky. Kensi, Deeks, I want you to start questioning everyone downstairs. We need to know where each one of them was last night. Sam, you and I are going to turn the place upside down. If Hetty is still here, we will find her." Callen gave out orders.

AN - hope you liked it! Please review, I know lots of you have put the story in your favorites or on alert but I'd really love to know what you're thinking about it,too. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

It was a bit creepy in the underground garage. Besides the cameras, Sam and Callen discovered the perpuator had also cut the lights, something Eric and Nell hadn't been able to tell from their makeshift programs. That made them feel quite strongly that they were on the right track and Hetty was nearby.

The parking garage was quiet, almost eerily so, Sam thought. It didn't have many cars which made their job a bit easier so there wouldn't be as many hiding places.

"Hetty's a fighter." Callen commented as they stood together, surveying the scene. "Maybe even too much so."

"What?" Sam turned to look at him.

"She'd fight them. Especially since she probably knows the guy, she'd want to make sure to leave evidence in some way, whether it be physically on the guy or otherwise notable."

"Unless he knocked her out cold like Eric. Nell was blindfolded nearly immediately, either of these could have happened to Hetty."

"If you were going to take Hetty down, how would you do it? Why would you do it on territory that's as familiar to her as her house?" Callen mused.

"Maybe he didn't take Hetty into account. Let's face it, Eric and Nell are easy targets to take down."

"Hmm, they're easy compared to any of us. Besides that, everyone knows Hetty is always the last to leave at night."

"Eric and Nell aren't usually there that late."

"Unlucky for them."

"Could've been worse." Sam stopped suddenly. "You hear anything?"

Callen stopped,too. "No, nothing."

"That's strange, isn't it? A parking garage this big, no sound at all?"

"We did lock down the place."

"Easy enough to open the door and come in here, we did it."

"No one has been in here, the door needed a key code from two high ranking agents plus Eric or Nell's codes. Either that, or a really good hacker." Callen thought about this as they walked along. "That's why they needed Eric or Nell."

"But they took Hetty, not either of them."

"Bigger fish in the pond. She's worth more to a kidnapper." Callen shrugged. "When exactly to bad guys make sense anyway?"

Sam shrugged back. "Never underestimate an idiot."

They walked further into the dim structure, carefully looking behind every car and pole and listening for any sound. About twenty cars lined the walls, with a walkway in the middle. It was not a very large garage since not many agents worked out of OPS and even fewer knew of its existence.

After searching in between, underneath and all around every car and pole, they were coming up empty.

"Could always break into the cars." Callen suggested.

"I think it's going to be something even simpler." Sam pointed to a small door behind the last car.

"What's back there anyway?" Callen whispered as they approached the door.

"Storage or something I guess."

"Think it's too obvious?"

"Yeah. Nowhere else to hide though."

The men drew their weapons to have them at the ready if they would be needed, and slowly reached the door.

"On the count of three." Callen held up his fingers. "One, two, three." he counted off.

Sam turned the doorknob. To his surprise, it gave easily which sparked his danger radar. It all had been too easy so far and that made him very nervous and on edge. He slowly pulled the door open.

A/N - I didn't intend for two things - one, this chapter is entirely Sam and Callen. And two, I wanted it to be longer but it refused to be. Luckily, the next chapter is nearly finished so you (hopefully, since I don't seem to be able to update more then once a month) won't have to wait too long.

Please review! I know many of you have the story favorited or on alert, and that's great but I'd really like to know what you think about it!


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